Started on the masthead today

I am trying to copy this painting from Waterhouse entitled "Lady of Shalott".  The painting is from a Tennyson poem of the same name and seems to fit my goals.

Waterhouse - in the Tate Gallery in London

Tennyson- 

And down the river’s dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance –
With glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,

My plan is to make two pieces like this.  One to be epoxied on to both sides of a bow stem that will mount to the boat.  The bow stem will be varnished and the outer pieces painted. 

I have a scroll saw I inherited that I used as a kid making swords.  I  don't know if Dad knew about that!   

Luckily we never poked anyone's eyes out sword fighting!

I had to get some new blades which that made the process go much faster. 

Next, I cut out the "feathers" for the dragon's head.  Yes, it is a stylized dragon's head in the style of a Viking ship - only my ship is 17 feet long, not 60.

This is oak, so the sanding is not going very fast.  I hope to have everything epoxied together this weekend.











Waterhouse's painting doesn't have a stern piece.  Of course, the Viking style would be the tail of the dragon.  I'll do a similar assembly for the stern, but more elongated with long flowery feathers.

The New Gunnels are mounted.

There were multiple boards on the side for support that had to be removed along with a hundred SS sheet metal screws and caulking of some sort.  Luckily the caulking came off with WD-40, some scraping, and elbow grease.  

I was worried the Ash boards would not conform to the shape of the hull.  When I got enough clamps to hold both the inside and outside boards together, they would bend to the shape pretty well. 

The next operation was epoxying the boards togehter (and to the hull), then holding them with brass wood screws.  

As of 5/25/16 I have both the inner and outer boards glued and screwed on the outside.  I still need to get in the boat to put the set of screws in from the inside.  

I will start on the masthead and tail piece (whatever it is called).  These fixtures are not on decorative, but structural and will hold the ends together.  

The Oars need some work

I bought some different sized clamps and made some more from PVC.  This oar was crushed when I was careless with it in the back of the Hee Hauler.  :(

Broken Oar Tip

It cracked along the original glue line and in a new place at the tip.

The PVC clamp does a nice job holding part of it together.

Some of the cheap clamps came from Harbor Frieght.  I really hate that place, but when I buy stuff I only expect to use once or twice, I give in to their cheap products. Given enough clamps, I'll be able to epoxy the oar back together when it warms up and stays dry long enough for the epoxy to dry.  

The good news is that the break created it's own scarf joint.  Where it broke along an existing glue line, I need ideas about how to strengthen that.  I could put a layer of glass on both sides of the joint.  I could drill some holes and use some tiny dowels or finishing nails.  

The process is to first soak the wood with neat, or unthickened epoxy.  This will saturate the wood about 1/4 to 1/2 inch and make a chemical bond foundation with the next layer of epoxy, which will contain some colloidal silica making the epoxy stronger.  I expect the oar to be as good as new when finished.

Mock up of Oak

I have more clamps to use when I glue it, but you can get the idea from this mock up.








The tips of the oars will get some protection.  I just happened to have some Kevlar I could epoxy on them.   That ought to offer some protection!

Next, I will sand all the oars in preparation for new varnish.  This will give me a chance to inspect the glue of the laminated oars.  There are some obvious failures of the glue joints which need more epoxy work.   LOL... more clamps!  

Oar Delamination